Christopher Gray urges you to see this cracking show about The Four Seasons

The phenomenal British success of Jersey Boys since its opening in the West End seven years ago is now being duplicated on a first national tour. Showcasing the timeless tunes of The Four Seasons, the pitch-perfect production — on the same lavish scale as the one still thrilling fans in town — is delighting audiences until Saturday at Oxford’s New Theatre.

Watching this hugely impressive show for the third time, I found myself wondering why all jukebox musicals can’t be like this. Maybe because this one offers so much more than the name usually suggests. Instead of giving us a succession of hits strung together with little thought for their relationship with the story being told — if there’s a story at all — Jersey Boys supplies a well-crafted biography of a seminal band in which the numbers neatly fit the tale.

Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s book divides the narrative between the four principal members of the group. Allowing each to have his say, in sections named for the four seasons of the year, ensures a balanced portrait — one that is sometimes surprising in its candour.

The criminal background of Tommy DeVito (Stephen Webb) is not overlooked, for instance — indeed it’s extensively examined — as he sets about fashioning the group, under various changing names, in the clubs and bars of New Jersey. Nor is his influence, in respect of law-breaking, on his young protege Frankie Castelluccio — a surname wisely changed to Valli — whose soaring falsetto supplied the band’s trademark sound and one key to its fortune.

Tim Driesen, in a note-perfect performance as Valli, imitates that voice with astonishing skill, even lending it that nasal overtone which is so much part of its appeal. In full flight on Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Bye Bye Baby and — especially — My Eyes Adored You, Driesen’s vocals hit the mark every time.

But the second key to the band’s fame was in the tune-writing skills of group member (and shrewd business brain) Bob Gaudio (Sam Ferriday), especially when these were allied with the lyrical gifts of their producer Bob Crewe, a man not frightened to appear gay, unusually for the times. When he is described as possessing “the best ears in the business,” the camp Crewe — amusingly presented by Matt Gillett — boasts that all his body parts are perfect.

In contrast to his flamboyance is the stolid quality of bassist Nick Massi (Lewis Griffiths), the quiet member that every group must have. It falls to him to narrate what is perhaps the most eye-opening chapter in The Four Seasons’ story. Financial profligacy by DeVito over the years has led to vast debts to the criminal underworld. To Frankie falls the task of pleading for the help (Beggin’) of friendly mafia boss Gyp DeCarlo (Sean Kingsley). The matter is sorted.

Congratulations to all involved in this show, the musical director Gareth Weedon and the band especially.

Jersey Boys
New Theatre, Oxford
Until Saturday
0844 8713020, atgtickets.com/oxford